


Pooh Sticks

by ermengarde



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Weechesters, bluebear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-25
Updated: 2008-05-25
Packaged: 2017-11-26 02:02:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/645331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ermengarde/pseuds/ermengarde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s not a cave, it’s just dark, but Sammy still doesn’t want to go in there. Dean’s going to have be the Hero and perform the rescue all by himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pooh Sticks

**Author's Note:**

> For the[](http://hump-day101.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://hump-day101.livejournal.com/) **hump_day101** prompt: “I will follow you into the dark” : fluff (it’s definitely on the Winchester end of fluffy…)

“Deeeeee-eeeeeeen” Sammy stopped, digging both heels into the ground and leaning back with all his four-year-old strength. “Don’t _wanna_!”

“Come on Sammy.” Dean sighed. “You know Dad’ll get mad if he knows we went outside, and you couldn’t’ve lost Blue Bear in the motel room.”

“But s’ _dark_ in there. Monsters live in caves, Daddy _always_ goes to caves to get the monsters, I don’t wanna get et.”

“Eaten.” Dean kept pulling at his brother’s hand, knowing that this little escapade was likely to end up with them both coated head to foot in mud - and that was going to be hard to keep from Dad – but that the only advantage of being the oldest was that he was bigger than Sammy and he could just _make_ his little brother do something if he had to.

That thought was forgotten, though, when he heard a loud _sniff_ from behind him. Maybe it wasn’t always all _that_ important to correct Sammy’s words.

As Dean turned his head the sniff turned into a sobs. “I don’t wanna get et-en Dean, I, I, I’m _scared_ and Blue’ll be _scared_ and he doesn’t want to get et-en neither and Daddy’ll be mad and it’s cold and it’s _dark_ in there and _Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen_ ”

Dean turned fully round to face his brother; grabbing his other hand and making Sammy look at him. “Sammy, it’s not a cave, okay? It’s just a stairway down to the water…”

“But it’s so _dark_ Dean.” Sammy pointed out with the irrefutable logic of a small child.

“Doesn’t make it a cave, just means the light’s out. We’ve got to go down there, because you _dropped_ Blue Bear over the side of the bridge and now he’s sitting on the path and we have to go and get him before we go home or you’ll lose him for _ever_.”

Sammy’s eyes were as big as the top on one of the big gulps Dad made them share and there were tears still streaking down his face. “I never meant to drop him Dean; he wanted to see the stick go.” Sammy twisted and pulled at his hands until Dean let them go, and then he started scrubbing at his eyes, really, properly crying.

Dean felt like the worst big brother ever.

Of _course_ Sammy hadn’t meant to drop his bear. He was only small, and he’d been so excited, racing sticks under the bridge with Dean. It was the only race Dean didn’t have to cheat to let Sammy win. And Sammy had always been a little scared of the dark; it never got properly dark in any of the motels they stayed in, the streetlights always made their way through the flimsy curtains, and even their room at Pastor Jim’s was always lit by the lights from the church.

Dean looked around the little empty lot they were in, more of a gap between streets than a real, proper, park, and confirmed that there was no one else around. Shucking his bag off his shoulders Dean knelt on the ground and started getting out the supplies he thought he’d need. He poured a thick salt circle round Sammy, and tied one end of the red string Dad used for marking up training courses to his brother’s wrist. Finally he reached right to the bottom of the pack and brought out the unloaded revolver that he’d brought with him.

Dad never left much _ordinance_ in the room with them; just a rifle for scaring off intruders that was kept well out of Sammy’s reach and was probably too heavy for him to lift anyway, but Dean knew that there were a couple of old, unloaded hand guns under Dad’s bed and figured that maybe the sight of a kid with a gun would give them the time to get away, if they needed it. And if _Dean_ with a gun was scary, then a four-year-old with one would be positively terrifying.

Dean checked, then checked again, that the gun was unloaded. Then he took off the safety and pointed it at the ground, firing it to prove that the weapon was harmless.

“Okay Sammy, I’ll go down and get Blue Bear, okay. You stay right here, and if anyone comes tug the cord two times, okay?” Dean looked intensely at his brother, mimicking the way Dad looked when they were training. Sammy bit his lip, wiped his nose and nodded. “And if anyone comes close, or scares you, or talks to you, start tugging and don’t stop.” He tucked the gun into the pocket on the outside of Sammy’s jacket. “And if anyone comes with a knife or anything you get out the gun and you point it at them, Okay? I know you were watching when Daddy showed me how.” Sammy straightened and nodded.

“I remember how Dean, I can…but….where are you gonna be?” Sammy cocked his head to one side and looked up at his brother, eyebrows knitting as he tried to work it out.

“I’m gonna go get Blue Bear.” Dean re-shouldered his bag and took the loose skein of string in his hand. “Just tug on this if you need me, okay?”

oOo

It _was_ dark in the stairwell, and it smelled. The rough concrete walls were slick to the touch and Dean was sure that he was going to fall before he reached the bottom of the first ten steps. He went slowly, edging down and doing his best to ignore the slimy feel of the wall as he placed a hand on it, steadying himself on his decent. There was the faintest suggestion of light at the bottom of that flight of stairs and Dean let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding as he turned the corner to go down the next flight and saw that it opened out onto the path where Blue Bear had been dropped. He took his hand off the mold-covered wall and moved more quickly down the stairs, paying out the string behind him.

oOo

Dean had been gone for _ages_. Sammy was cold, and his nose was sore from where he’d rubbed it. Dean had tied the string round his wrist too tight and it must be nearly dinner time and what if the _monster_ thought it was dinner time? And Sammy had the gun and Dean was being et-en?

Totally decided, Sammy got the gun out of his pocket and held it, pointing downward, the way that Daddy had taught Dean. The string was going to be a bit of a pain, but Sammy thought he could maybe wind it round his finger. He took a deep breath and checked that the salt circle was intact before he stepped out of it and went into the stairwell. Following his brother into the dark.

oOo

Blue Bear was a little muddy, but surprisingly unhurt after his fall from the bridge; fur still bright and fluffy except for his left paw, which was worn as Sammy rarely it let go. Dean tucked him into the top of his jacket, pulling the zipper up a little to make sure that he wouldn’t fall out or get lost again.

Time to go back; up the dark, slimy stairs. Dean almost hesitated, but Sammy was alone up there and he’d already been alone too long. Going up was a little easier than down, even though he was standing in his own light. At least if he fell this time he’d only fall up a couple of stairs, not right down an endless flight to the bottom.

Dean carefully started winding back the string as he walked, making the skein neatly, just as Dad liked it.

Suddenly there was a tension on the string in his hands, _was that a tug?_ Dean stopped, stock still, waiting to see if Sammy tugged again. He listened hard, trying to hear over the noise of the rushing stream below.

He could barely make out the tiny, quiet, gasp followed by a faint disgusted whimper. _Sammy!_

Dean stopped winding in the string and started to run up the slick, dark stairs, putting his hand out to catch himself as he nearly slipped and landed on his chin near the top of the first flight.

The frightened wail from around the corner hurt Dean far more than the sharp concrete stair edge against his hand.

“Sammy! Sammy, is that you?” Dean knew that it was stupid to shout out when you didn’t know what you were faced with, but that noise was so familiar, the noise that woke him sometimes when Sammy had a nightmare, or distracted him from the T.V. in that motel room with the huge bugs.

He barely made it round the corner before he was almost sent flying by his little brother leaping onto him and clinging so tightly that it hurt.

Dean ignored the clatter of the gun as it fell to the floor and held Sammy just as tightly. “Sammy, what happened, did someone come?”

“Dean, the monster, I thought the monster at-en you and you didn’t have the gun and Daddy never goes hunting without a gun and I had to save you and it’s all slimy in here and…”

“Shhhhh Sammy, there’s no monster, I told you that. Calm down, you’re scaring Blue Bear.” Dean rubbed his brother’s back, trying to calm him down enough to start their journey back up the stairs and back to the motel. Hopefully there’d be enough time to get everything all cleaned up and the worst of the mud and slime off their clothes before Dad came back.

Sammy hiccoughed a little, the occasional tiny sob stuttering his breath, but he stood up straight and disentangled himself from Dean, taking his brother’s hand and holding on tightly as Dean collected the gun and they started back up the stairs and towards the motel.

“I came into the dark, Dean.”

“Yeah Sammy, you did.”

“When I’m bigger I’ll rescue you always. Like you do for me ‘cause you’re big.”

“I know Sammy, I know. Let’s get home, hu?”

“Okay Dean. Dean, you can have Blue Bear tonight if you want? He’s had a big a’venture and he’ll be safer in your bed.”

“I dunno kiddo, you’re pretty brave too, you came to rescue me and Blue Bear from the monster, I think he might want to be with a hero like you.”


End file.
